After the laughter subsided, Bloom tried again, this time reaching Fulmer who wasted little time blasting the lawsuit filed by attorneys representing two former Alabama assistant coaches suing the NCAA who claim that Fulmer conspired with the agency to bring down Alabama's football program.

"This whole thing is absurd. To blame me or any coach, any of the numerous coaches that told the NCAA about what they knew or what they heard about cheating is wrong," Fulmer said. "If we hear a rumor, you report it and it's up to the NCAA to prove or disprove it. Now a small group of attorneys, radical attorneys, who on their own have undertaken their own agenda to smear the NCAA and anyone else who stands in their way."

Fulmer, who read a five-minute statement before taking questions, was making his first in-depth public comments on the situation since it was announced earlier this week week that the coach would not be attending the SEC Media Days.

Initially, Tennessee officials said the decision was due to a concern for Fulmer's safety, when actually it was done to keep Alabama attorney Tommy Gallion from serving the coach a subpoena which would force him to give a deposition.

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"Through this entire affair, I told the truth and will continue to tell the truth," Fulmer said. "Second, I refuse to be a stage prop for a lawsuit, and the attorney (Gallion) who's doing this is trying to do it all for show.

"They've (the lawyers) proven that they're not interested in what the truth is. They're interested in showboating and grandstanding, make wild, incredible, exaggerated charges and half-truths when the truth is not on their side."

Basically, the reason for this week's hullabaloo began when summaries of three interviews Fulmer had with an NCAA investigator in 2000 where released in January from a federal court in Memphis, where a former Alabama booster is awaiting criminal trial on charges he paid $150,000 to steer high school prospect Albert Means to Alabama.

Although other SEC and Big Ten coaches spoke to the NCAA about their suspicions, Fulmer has been the focus of former Crimson Tide coaches Ronnie Cottrell and Ivy Williams, who are being represented in part by Gallion.

Fulmer still doesn't understand why that's so.

"I didn't go to the NCAA, they came to me," said Fulmer, who is also being sued by former Alabama recruit and Tennessee player Kenny Smith because he told the NCAA investigator he heard rumors Smith's mother was involved with a Alabama assistant coach.

Fulmer called that lawsuit "frivolous."

The lawyers weren't the only ones who felt Fulmer's fury.

The coach took exception to the suggestion that he left Tennessee Media Day representatives Kevin Burnett and Michael Munoz "out to dry" knowing the pair would be bombarded with questions about Fulmer's legal situation.

"A couple of you have called me a coward. I was really disappointed to see that," he said. "You can talk about my coaching if we lose. You can talk about my play-calling in games. You can talk about my physique if you choose to step that low, but coward is across the line."

Tennessee sports information director Bud Ford said Fulmer had been anxious to respond publically to all the allegations stemming from the lawsuits for a some time. Judging from comments from other reporters after he hung up the phone, Fulmer's responses were well-received, although not everybody impressed.

SEC commissioner Michael Slive refused to comment on Fulmer, who was fined $10,000 for not showing up at media days, a league rule.

Fulmer, who said he did not come to Hoover on the advice of his attorneys, apologized for the "distraction" and thanked Slive for giving him the opportunity to speak.

But that's where the niceties stopped.

Like his Vols come their Sept. 5 opener against UNLV, Fulmer is prepared to battle as long as he has to in order to prove the allegations against him false.